Royal Ascot Bonanza with 123racing.com

New Zealand-based Interactive Gaming Systems (IGS) the firm who recently launched its new on-line virtual racing game in the UK will be offering the chance to win £5000 this week based on a £1000 prize at each of the five race meetings run at Royal Ascot starting Tuesday, UK Time. 123racing.com has been trialled at several race meetings in New Zealand over the past few months with the focus now shifting to a larger global market which includes UK Thoroughbred racing. “Kempton Park and Sandown were a great success with 90% of the players including the winners all coming from New Zealand. This demonstrates a willingness of cross bordering opportunities” says Rob Earle, the Chief Executive of Interactive Gaming Systems. 123racing.com is promoting the game as free to play at the moment to educate and enrol players and has had players from 61 different countries take part. 123racing.com plan to launch a pay-to-play game, which would dramatically increase the level of prize money available and the benefits that could be given back to individual racing clubs where the events are being held. “We currently sponsor a lot of races where they are available and when it becomes a pay-to-play game, the sponsorship will increase” says Earle. IGS is funding the cash prizes itself as a promotion and since launching the 123racing.com game in March this year, the site has achieved in excess of 10 million hits and 100,000 unique visitors ranking it as one of the most popular horse racing sites in the world. With several real money prize competitions per week, 123racing.com is helping promote racing to a wider audience. It hopes to win back players of online casinos and lotto into horse racing where it can be just as exciting playing the 123racing.com game.